Preliminaries 1: Ranks of Acts in the Shafi’i School

In this unit:

● Every one of our acts falls into one of five ranks.
● Fard and sunnah acts are good to do.
● Makruh and haram acts are not good to do.

Keywords

Fiqh

Imam Al-Shafii

Fard/Wajib

Sunnah/Mandub

Mubah

Makruh

Haram

Allah and His Prophet have told us to do some things and they have told us not to do other things. The scholars of Islam have taught us how to do our everyday acts in the way Allah and His Prophet want us to do them. The science that teaches us how to do these acts is called fiqh. One of the scholars who taught us fiqh is Imam Abu Idris al-Shafi’i. So when we learn fiqh from his teachings, we say that we follow the Shafi’i school.

In Islam, every act that we do has a rank based on how good or bad the act is. In the Shafi’i school, there are 5 ranks of acts.

1. Fard or Wajib

1. Fard or Wajib

These are acts you must do. You must never leave an act that is fard. Leaving a fard makes one sinful, but doing it will get us lots of reward, insha’ Allah. Wow, Allah is really merciful!

2. Sunnah (or Mandub)

2. Sunnah (or Mandub)

A sunnah act is one that Allah would like us to do, so it is recommended that we do it. If we do it, we get reward insha’ Allah; if we do not do it, we will not be sinful. But hey, why lose the extra credit?

3. Mubah

3. Mubah

A mubah act is one we can do or not do as we please.

4. Makruh

4. Makruh

A makruh act is one that Allah does not like, so it better not to do it. If you do it, you will not be sinful; if you do not do it, you will get reward. Wouldn’t you like to get extra reward from Allah? I would!

5. Haram

5. Haram

Yikes, no Muslim likes to do a haram thing. A haram act is one you must never do. If you do it, you will be sinful; if you do not do it, you will get reward from Allah and Allah will love you.

Now let’s take a look at this in table form to make it easier. Some examples will help, too. Let us know if you have any questions (or comment!)

Fard

Sunnah

Mubah

Makruh

Haram

Must do it, reward if you do it.

Better do it, reward if you do it.

Can do it or not do it.

Better not do it.

Must not do it, sinful if you do it.

If you do Fard and Sunnah acts, you will have stronger iman and Allah will love you more.

You could get rewarded for your mubah acts if you make intention to do them for Allah. Eat dinner and say you are doing it for Allah. Go on!